1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to soundproof walls installed to provide the reduction of road traffic noises to the outside environments, and more particularly, to a photovoltaic soundproof wall that has functions of reducing road traffic noises and easily producing electricity therefrom.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, traffic noises on roads are high, and so as to reduce the road traffic noises, thus, soundproof walls are installed along both sides of the road, thereby preventing the road traffic noises from being transferred to the outside.
Conventional soundproof walls, for example, are formed of relatively thick panels capable of efficiently reducing road traffic noises therefrom, but the formation of the relatively thick panels fails to allow the outside appearance of the road to be seen by the occupants of the vehicle.
According to another example of the conventional soundproof walls, further, a plurality of H-beam posts having an H-shaped section are equally spaced apart from one another along the road sides, and a plurality of soundproof members are installed between the adjacent posts. Each of the soundproof members is formed by surrounding the edge portions of a thin single sheet like a Lexan sheet or acrylic sheet with a main frame.
In this case, the outside appearance from the road is seen easily by the excellent clarity of the soundproof members, but since the thicknesses of the soundproof members are substantially low, the conventional soundproof walls do not provide high soundproof effects.
Especially, a lighting device is mounted on the soundproof wall, but in this case, electricity should be brought into the lighting device from the outside.
To solve the above-mentioned inconveniences, thus, there are proposed soundproof walls with a photovoltaic generation device mounted thereon for supplying electricity to the lighting device mounted on the soundproof wall or around the soundproof wall, which are disclosed in Korean Application Nos. 10-2007-0074233, 10-2007-0077373, and 10-2008-0088689 and Korean Utility Model Application No. 20-2006-0024038.
According to the above-mentioned conventional arts, since the photovoltaic generation device is coupled on the top portions or front and rear surfaces of the soundproof walls, solar cells as the parts of the photovoltaic generation device are exposed to the outside. As a result, the generation efficiencies of the solar cells are decreased by the dust generated from the road, and further, the solar cells exposed to the outside are rapidly eroded and damaged.
According to the conventional arts, additionally, a unit for tracking solar positions is mounted on the photovoltaic generation device so as to increase the generation efficiencies of the solar cells, but the entire configuration becomes very complicated by the addition of the unit for tracking the solar positions. Moreover, existing solar cell modules cannot be installed in vertical spaces, and because of the limitation of the installation area of the soundproof walls, the existing solar cell modules are very dangerous, in view of their shape, in their installation.